When Giffords Circus were here in Oxford last month I tried to do as much backstage photography as I could manage in my limited spare time. Here are some backstage portraits during a performance when we had scorching hot weather. These were difficult to do because obviously I didn’t want to delay anyone so I had to be quick, one shot each, no bracketing exposure, no second chances, one and done. Many thanks to the Giffords performers for being so generous with their time.

Giffords Circus rolled into town and set up in University Parks for a series of sold out performances and I went along to make back stage portraits of some of the performers as I have done in previous years. This time last year I was suffering from a lot of back pain so unfortunately I don’t have any portraits from that show. Most of the performers this year are new but there are still some familiar faces in the group and it was nice to see them again. If you haven’t seen the show I highly recommend it. You can see some of my photography from previous years here.

Colour portraits of some of the Giffords Circus performers when they were in Oxford last month. They’re such a talented group and very patient with me photographing them back stage during the performances. The light was very different this year to last, it was also quite a bit hotter on most of the days. The sun was beating down for most of the day so I’d take slow film with me but then by early evening heavy clouds would roll in and the light level would drop quite a bit which made things tricky but that’s all part of the fun with film. I find that being challenged keeps things interesting and you pay a lot more attention to the light than you would if you were just changing the ISO in a menu on the back of the camera.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year already since Giffords Circus was in town especially as I remember it so well and it feels more recent than that. This year there are familiar faces that I saw last year and also some new people. I saw the show this afternoon and it was fantastic – very different from last year. If you haven’t been to see the show yet I highly recommend it. Here are some portraits I made back stage.

These are the last set of portraits that I made of the Giffords Circus performers while they were in University Parks here in Oxford. They were performing their last show while I was making these portraits and I’m extremely grateful that they gave me the opportunity because what you can’t see in these shots is the backstage area being dismantled by the performers while the performance was going on and this was on one of the hottest days of the summer. It was a little tricky to stay out of peoples way while looking for areas of nice light to place my subjects in because the sun was very harsh but it all worked out and I love how the colours have turned out with this film. I really hope that Giffords will be performing again in Oxford next summer.

While Giffords Circus was in Oxford I went to University Parks on a few different occasions for photography, each time with a different camera and mostly with black & white film. On this occasion I took along a 35mm camera loaded with colour film to mix things up a little and for speed. These shots are all from the same roll while a performance was going on so I didn’t have much time. I really love the colours in these shots.

This set of images are from my first test roll of some very special 35mm film. It’s Kodak 500T motion picture film that’s designed to be used in movie cameras (the kind that Hollywood studios use) and it’s a favourite film of such movie directors as Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino to name just a few that have used it for their recent movies. I was able to use it in my 35mm SLR because the very clever Brothers Wright in Los Angeles have come up with a technique of removing the remjet layer of the film and then spooling it into 35mm film canisters ready for use in a regular stills camera. It’s native ISO is 500 and it’s balanced for tungsten light. Without the remjet layer the film can be developed in regular C41 chemistry just like other colour negative film. For my first test roll I decided to photograph the Giffords Circus performance last weekend and as an additional test I sent the roll off to ASDA with a few other rolls to test out their developing and scanning service. So far I am very pleased with the results.

Giffords Circus left Oxford earlier this evening after being here for almost a week in University Parks and I can’t say enough great things about the amazing people that work there. The weather was non-stop sunshine for the whole time they were here and although the temperature was pretty hot I think it was perfect summer weather to see the Circus. I made a few trips over there to see if I could make some nice portraits on film, each time I took a different camera with me for variety. The performers were all incredibly nice and friendly which made for a great experience. I went to the Sunday afternoon performance which was a full house and I enjoyed every second of it. I can’t recommend it highly enough if you get a chance to see it, these people are the real deal. Everything in this Circus is hand made with care and attention to detail from the sets to the costumes and I couldn’t help thinking that on some level it made perfect sense that I was photographing them because I hand process, scan and print my film with just as much attention to detail for the best possible end result. I’m keeping my finger’s crossed that Giffords Circus will come back to Oxford next year.

Lots more photography from Giffords Circus to come. If you’re one of the Circus performers and you see these pictures, please tell the others in the group and if you wish to, please leave a comment to let me know what you think.